Daniel Schwarz

Today we've released a comprehensive list of government drone data for New York State. For the first time we're able to review how widespread drones are:
In total there 530 government drones by 85 different entities. 327 of these are operated by police.

https://www.nyclu.org/en/campaigns/prying-eyes-government-drone-data-across-new-york-state

Prying Eyes: Government Drone Data Across New York State

Numerous highly advanced drones with the capacity to spy on New Yorkers have been obtained by New York government agencies. But until now there was little publicly known about just how many of these invasive drones fill the arsenal of police departments and other government entities. The NYCLU has published the most comprehensive picture yet of how many drones are deployed by

New York Civil Liberties Union
Nov 21, 2022 at 8:44pmWeb
Show threadDaniel SchwarzNov 21, 2022
Their numbers have risen drastically and so have their capabilities. Longer flight times, camera advancements, heavier payloads, and the possibility to combine drones with biometric surveillance, object recognition, thermal imaging, autonomous flying -- all without oversight or limitations.
Show threadDaniel SchwarzNov 21, 2022
A bill in the legislature (S675/A3311 by Sen Ramos and AM Kim) would prohibit police drone surveillance of protests and other First Amendment-protected activities and require a warrant for other police drone use. It would also prohibit the use of facial recognition, weapons, or crowd control devices with drones.
It recognizes that unregulated use of drones by police poses a unique threat to our rights to protest, privacy, and to be free from invasive and warrantless government surveillance.
Show threadDaniel SchwarzNov 21, 2022

We've made all data and our request available on our website. We've been inspired by the great work of the ACLU Massachusetts and encourage others to replicate these requests in their respective states to get a more complete picture of the widespread use of drones.

#surveillance #drones #data #FOIA #police #privacy